PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were busy at the deadline. They made a flurry of moves to help them both on the floor right now and help them in the future.
They acquired Buddy Hield to add 3-point shooting to the roster and make things easier for Tyrese Maxey and, eventually Joel Embiid when he returns, and they also added Cam Payne in another deal. They are expected to add 3-point shooting and veteran experience to the roster.
Another move that was made was sending Jaden Springer to the Boston Celtics. The 21-year-old was making a big impact on the defensive end as of late and it looked like he was going to make a serious dent in Philadelphia’s rotation before the Sixers decided to make the move.
“That one’s pretty straightforward in that, again, we’re focused on winning the title,” said President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. “We had to look at, ‘What are the odds Jaden Springer — who I think has a great future — will help our playoff rotation in the one, two, three-year maybe horizon? And what are the odds that the second-round pick will help us?’ And we thought the second-round pick helped us more. That’s just the reality.”
Morey’s point is that he doesn’t believe a young Springer at this stage of his career will help the Sixers win a title in the next year or two. That’s fine if he believes that, and he may be right, but Springer showed some incredible defensive play against elite scorers such as Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry in previous nights for Philadelphia.
The second-round pick is something Morey could trade to go acquire another win-now player for the future.
“It allows us to go get maybe a veteran at next year’s deadline and things like that and we like the net of Jaden, Pat (Beverley) — who’s going to play less here — and one second-round pick for the best player traded,” Morey added. “We thought that was the right move. So yeah, we did it. It sucks. Jaden’s going to be really good, I think. I think his timetable’s a little pushed out, though in our evaluation, and if we’re wrong, we’re wrong, and you guys can all write it — it’s fine. Our evaluation was that his timetable to help a playoff team was further out than what the second-round pick could do for us.”
Some are upset that Morey traded Springer to a big rival such as the Celtics. He also made trades with the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks at the deadline. Morey does not care about that at all.
“I don’t,” he laughed. “I know maybe others do. I do think that comes into play when you’re talking about maybe your top few guys. I do think it matters then, but when you get a little further down the roster, I don’t think that should be a factor. I think you’ll miss opportunities that will hurt you more than those things. We’ll see. This is definitely a challenge trade. It’ll be a fun one going forward.”
One has to wonder though. The Sixers drafted a then 19-year-old Springer with the No. 28 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. They had to know that it would take some time to fully develop him for major NBA minutes.
“I feel like, in our phase of our team, we want things that help us on the court now with Joel,” Morey explained. “That was a pick that generally, we’d rather push into the future — almost all these later picks. Or, if we do end up picking someone, we feel like they will either help us on the court or end up in something like this, where you’re retaining the ability to use them to go get a Buddy Hield. And so, for me, the Jaden thing was successful.”
Morey also knows that there will be some who disagree that it was successful.
“I’m totally fine if people want to write the opposite, but if you take any look at late first into the second round, 85% of those players aren’t helping their team on the floor and can’t be traded for positive value that helps you get another player,” he finished. “Jaden did that, and I have to keep my focus on the playoff team now. And so that’s our focus, right or wrong.”
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